Celac: Leaders stressed the importance of economic integration in the region | There were 44 agreements, including a fund to mitigate climate change

The sixth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) once again brought together the heads of state of the region with Mexico as the host country of the meeting. The summit was inaugurated by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who stressed the importance of organizations such as Celac in consolidating relations between countries in the region. The participants unanimously approved the adoption of the measures proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to address the current health emergency due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Summit VI

The Mexican president, host of the summit and pro tempore president of Celac, brought together the leaders of 31 countries in Mexico City. “Celac can become the main instrument to consolidate relations between our countries and achieve the ideal of economic integration with the United States and Canada and within a framework of respect for our sovereignties,” said López Obrador. Argentina was represented by the Under Secretary for Latin American Affairs, Juan Carlos Valle Raleigh.

Debates

For his part, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, challenged the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez to organize a regional debate to discuss democracy after Abdo Benítez’s refusal to recognize the government of Caracas as part of the Celac summit. “We believe deeply in the dialogue of various people, and I say to the President of Paraguay: Set the date, place and time for a debate on democracy in Paraguay, Venezuela and Latin America. We are ready to give it away, you put it up “, said the Venezuelan president.

In his speech, Abdo Benítez had stressed that Paraguay’s participation in the meeting did not necessarily imply recognition of the Venezuelan executive. “My presence at this summit, in no sense or under any circumstances, does not represent recognition of the government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro. There is no change in the position of my government and I think it is gentlemen of the say head on, “he said. declared.

The Uruguayan President, Luis Lacalle Pou, joined the criticisms of his Paraguayan counterpart in expressing his concern about the situation in Venezuela. “We must, in this calm but firm voice, say with concern that we are seriously seeing what is happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,” said the President of Uruguay.

In this sense, the Venezuelan president addressed his invitation to Lacalle Pou and AMLO, and He proposed to convene a regional debate on “democracy, freedoms, resistance, revolution, or whatever needs to be debated, neoliberalism”. “In front of people, live and in direct transmission, in private, however you want,” he said. “With respect, without exclusions,” he added. Nicolás Maduro who also called for the unity of the region to realize the dream of the Latin American heroes who, more than 200 years ago they fought for independence and integration.

Brazil’s absence has been criticized after the Brazilian president’s decision to withdraw from the Latin American body. “It is very unfortunate that President Jair Bolsonaro, in a vision of denial and division, has withdrawn Brazil from this community which so badly needs Brazil.”, to complain.

More Celac less AEO

While Bolivian President Luis Arce called for strengthening the Community of Latin American States (Celac) and stressed that organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) proved “obsolete and inefficient” for the purposes for which it was created. Instead of acting under the mandates of the Democratic Charter, the OAS acts against the principles of democracy. Their increasing interference in the affairs of states does not contribute to the peaceful settlement of disputes, but on the contrary generates them ”, declared Arce. “It does not meet the needs of our states nor the principles of multilateralism. Faced with this, the need to strengthen Celac is clear ”, he noticed.

Pandemic

The covid-19 pandemic was one of the main topics of the Mexico City summit. In this line, Arce reiterated the importance of coronavirus vaccines reaching everyone and stressed the need to release patents to expand vaccine production to more places. “If the patents are not released, if the technology is not shared, we will not achieve timely vaccination and the pandemic will end up claiming more lives, collapsing our economies and disrupting our society and the political arena. “, warned.

At the summit, Celac member countries unanimously approved the adoption of the measures proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the region’s health self-sufficiency plan drawn up by the agency. The plan was presented by the executive secretary of ECLAC, the Mexican Alicia Bárcena. Among the stated objectives is to guarantee, in the short term, equal access to vaccines against covid-19, given the lack of vaccines in the countries of the region. “The main motivation for the plan is unequal access to vaccination”, he stressed. Bárcena also presented a document in which he details the capacities of countries in the fight against covid-19 as well as a detailed analysis of the pharmaceutical industry.

“Although there are countries that have the capacity to produce vaccines, there are others that have the capacity to produce inputs and there are other countries that are very important hubs in the process. distribution”, Bárcenas said that He also stressed in Cuba that “he already has a great development of vaccines against SARS and that he already has nearly six vaccines”.

The document presented by the executive of ECLAC also provides for the creation of a transparent and regional vaccine and drug procurement mechanism. “We are a market of 650 million people, we can generate an internal market, local production and regional sectors”, a point. “We have identified immediate actions to be taken in three areas: coordination between national regulatory authorities, regional purchasing mechanisms to have universal access to vaccines and the establishment of a regional clinical trials platform”, he added.

The agreements

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard closed the summit by highlighting the 44 agreements reached at the regional meeting, including support for Argentina in the cause of the Malvinas.. Among the agreements, Ebrard said, is the creation of an Integrated Fund to deal with the effects of climate change for which they have raised $ 15 million from the countries of the region. In addition to the vaccine support for Latin America “So that we never again have a situation like the one we experienced in 2020 and 2021” where he pointed out that many leaders wandered in search of vaccines.